To report car dealer neighbour for taking 5 parking spaces

[itswhatsinsidethatcounts]

Hi all.

A neighbour who's moved into the estate recently is taking the utter piss with 'stealing' every available parking space in the area for his cars. I am almost certain he is dealing illegally and selling from home. As of this evening 5 bays are occupied by his cars, which I find ridiculously unfair and inconsiderate.

I'm annoyed as he's taken my space that I've been parking in for the last 9 years. I'm kind of forced to park in the unassigned bay next to it which I hate as it's so tight and awkward to get into. A few weeks ago, I was looking out of the window and I could see him really struggling to get his car in which is smaller than mine, so he just went and parked elsewhere. This was before he conveniently stole my space.

Would I be unreasonable for reporting him to the council?

Hard to say

Is it allocated parking?

Not being unreasonable in the slightest! Just do it - people like him work on the basis that they’ll be bullies for life , no one will ever challenge them. He’s trying it on because he thinks he can. Don’t let him.

If hes not allowed to run a Business from home then yes do report him BUT if the parking isn't allocated then its not yours

Yes, a mix of allocated and visitor parking spaces.

He was arguing with a neighbour last week. She got her phone out and started filming him. I suspect for the unreasonable parking.

What a cock

Put a note on one of them to say, 'Mate - you get one parking spot per household. You're liable to get brake fluid poured on your cars if you keep taking the piss and taking 5 spaces. Not to mention reported to HMRC...'

And stick it on with Pritt Stick. It's annoying to remove...

Is there a street whatsapp group? You won’t be alone.

Yanbu. Whatever the rights and wrongs of this, he's a selfish arse and deserves to be investigated.

We do have a Facebook group. I'm hardly ever on the platform so I've not checked if anything has been said about his parking.

Pretty sure you can't run a car dealership from a family home and can be reported to the local council. That would be my first port of call as this is something that councils regularly get as a complaint.

Are the cars taxed?

Have you proof he's running a car sales business? I'm not sure but if he's claiming to just sell them personally then it might not be a breach. Could you get someone to contact him saying they heard he might be selling cars?
But if it's inconsiderate parking anyway then that enough to report. Take photos though.

If it is allocated parking, and in your lease / rental agreement, like in a block of flats then you take it up with whoever manages that, but it the parking is on street (as you say 'the council' , then that seems unusual for it to be allocated to 1 car per house, if not on driveways ? (Or is that a 'thing' in some parts of the country ?).

That's what I'd be checking

Is it actually 'allocated' parking OP, only I get the impression from the way you've said it, that you have just habitually parked in the same spot for the last 9 years, and now don't like it because someone else is using it. This happens a lot with people who are used to parking on the road outside of their house, they're used to doing it, and if God forbid someone new moves in and parks there, all hell gets let loose. However, if it IS literally 'your' allocated parking space, then by all means report him to the management company or whoever, or even threaten legal action if that's what it takes. As far as running a business, I think you'd need proof before reporting to the council, for example, if all 5 cars have 'For Sale' stuck on the window, then take photos, and report, but otherwise I think you might have a job to prove it.

On parking threads people like to point out that it's not illegal to take up lots of spaces, but it's still selfish and inconsiderate to other neighbours

Definitely report him. He sounds like a knob.

How many people live in the house? We probably annoyed the neighbours with 5 cars outside.

I'm annoyed as he's taken my space that I've been parking in for the last 9 years

This sounds like it's not your space but you just use it. Is it allocated to you?

He must be using other allocated spaces or is it all the visitor ones?

He drives a lot of them so I presume they are. But I haven't checked.

There's just 2 if them in the house.

If parking for residents and visitors is formally allocated, you have every right to complain.

You have no proof he is doing business from home or breaking any business rules, so I wouldn’t go there if I were you.

I don't have physical proof. But, people come outside his house to view the cars and test drive almost everyday. I've not taken pictures or videos because I wasn't too bothered until he took my space.

As I said on another parking thread, the same happened to us but they were using everyone's driveways and the police said there is nothing they could do as there were no signs prohibiting public parking on the private drives. It was a cash sales car business and they keep moving around as no overhead means much more profit. (they used the neighborhood for approximately 10 days and then moved on. As long as the vehicles are taxed apparently they can use as many spaces as they want if there aren't correctly posted prohibitions!

If he is running the business from his home, it is highly likely he would require planning permission.